‘Time to stop the talking’

ENAR

With entrepreneurship becoming something of a buzzword in the Middle East, it would be easy to assume that it is booming. But while support for new companies is certainly growing, for some it is not nearly fast enough. Usama Fayyad, Executive Chairman of Oasis 500 – Jordan’s largest fund for supporting early stage start-ups – believes the Arab world is still lagging behind when it comes to supporting innovation. The company has invested $2.3 million in 58 startups since September 2010, and claim that the first half million of investment they made attracted $8 million from outside investors. But Fayyad believes the time has come for governments to take more action to stimulate entrepreneurship.   We keep hearing about how fast entrepreneurship is developing in the Arab world, but do you believe the hype? The talk is much, much more than the action. People tend to talk a lot, talking